Brigadier General Edward P. Donnelly, Director, Force Development Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff addressed plans to improve the equipping posture of the Army, to fund modern equipment, and discussed the overall continuing pursuit of soldier modernization. Lieutenant General Mullholland Jr., Commanding General, US Army Special Operations Command, discussed priorities for the Army special operations soldier. Army special operations forces will grow from 15,017 in FY2004 to 26,222 in FY2012. A high priority is the ability to share more of the platform between special operations and Army-common forces, allowing more economical outfitting of all forces. The General also highlighted the fact that one of the most important priorities within soldier systems is training and simulation – specifically the ability to get realistic training value in compressed space and time.

David Shaddrix (Acting Director, Chief Integration Office, CIO/G-6) discussed challenges in and efforts to control IT expenditures, including separating applications from infrastructure. He emphasized that the early success of the “Apps for the Army” program was the type of program that could reduce the time needed to get new requirements fielded.

One important way we can lighten the load of warfighters is to enhance their onboard technology i.e. their inherent capacity for situational awareness. There is an interesting approach described here: http://www.mind-fitness-training.org/tr_what_fitmind.html It seems an important complement to providing them with the latest tech.